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There's one major difference between promoting an event or a performance and promoting other types of products or services: the deadline. Customers who haven't purchased tickets by the time the curtain goes up aren't going to buy at all. This time constraint will affect planning, publicity and advertising, and sometimes even pricing strategies for your small business.

Planning Your Budget

It's important to know in advance how many seats you need to fill -- and at what admission price -- to meet your financial goals for the event. To determine that, you need to compile your facility costs, the performers' fees and costs for security, sound and light equipment. Dividing that total by the turnout you expect helps you determine the basic admission fee. This figure alone might stop you in your tracks; if the admission fee you need to charge is unreasonably high for the event or the target audience, you need to find a way to cut costs. If the fee is low enough, however, you have room to raise it to cover your marketing budget and your desired profit margin.

Understanding Your Audience

It's important to understand the demographics of your intended audience as you begin your marketing plan. Unless you have a large marketing budget, you'll need to target your promotional efforts to those media that reach the people most likely to buy tickets for the particular event. Knowing the age, income and ticket-buying habits of your target audience will help you plan what media outlets to focus on. Other fan demographics, such as gender and ethnicity, might also have an impact on your promotional efforts. If you're not sure, ask the management of the act you're booking or the venue you're hiring for pointers.

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Prepare Your Publicity Hit List

Once you know who your target audience is, draw up a list of the channels through which you can reach them, starting with those that won't cost advertising dollars. For instance, identify the radio stations that your target demographic listens to, and find out if they air an event calendar; if they do, make sure you're on it. Utilize popular social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook to create buzz for the event. Also, determine if there are any on-air interview opportunities on these stations. Identify local daily or weekly newspapers, city magazines, and other publications that your target audience reads and send them a press kit. And of course, don't forget fan websites and local entertainment websites. Most of them will list you for free.

Consider Advertising

Print and broadcast advertising is expensive, so don't rush into it unless you're sure your budget will support it. Again, demographics come into play; you need to know, for instance, which sections of the local newspaper your target audience reads, or what time slots they're most likely to be listening to specific radio stations, before you make your media buy. Also, judge the frequency of your ad insertions; smaller, more frequently run ads might generate more attention than larger or longer ads that you can only afford to run once or twice.

Planning for Posters

Posters are a mainstay of live-event promotion, and could wind up claiming a significant portion of your marketing budget. Use your demographic information to plan how many posters you'll need, how upscale they have to be and where you're going to place them. For instance, 50 large, four-color posters might be adequate for promoting a symphony concert, but you might need hundreds of photocopied sheets for a rock act in a club. If the event is a touring act, its management might be able to provide you with art for the poster.

Timing is Critical

Once you've worked out how you're going to reach your audience, schedule carefully. For instance, know the submission deadlines for published entertainment calendars, so that your event can be promoted in time for people to buy tickets. If you're scheduling on-air interviews to publicize the event, contact the show's producer well in advance of when you want the interview to air. Scheduling promotional activities is a balancing act; if your publicity appears too far in advance of the event, people can forget about it before the day of the performance. If it's too late, your target buyers might not have time to buy tickets or make plans to attend. It's generally best to have your promotion begin about a month before the event, with the publicity climaxing no later than three days before the event.

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About the Author

Scott Knickelbine began writing professionally in 1977. He is the author of 34 books and his work has appeared in hundreds of publications, including "The New York Times," "The Milwaukee Sentinel," "Architecture" and "Video Times." He has written in the fields of education, health, electronics, architecture and construction. Knickelbine received a Bachelor of Arts cum laude in journalism from the University of Minnesota.